https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/05/ukraine-war-turns-the-tables-as-russia-seeks-help-from-north-korea
After years of backing UN sanctions targeting North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme, Russia is now reaching out to its neighbour for help. The war in Ukraine has forced the Kremlin to reassess its relationship with Pyongyang as it seeks to secure weapons to replace its own depleted stocks.
A possible meeting between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un later this month in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok would add geopolitical substance to the symbolic meeting of minds that has unfolded between the leaders of the pariah states over 18 months of fighting in Ukraine.
With Russia quickly using up its munitions, Putin is expected to build on recent high-level diplomatic exchanges, including a visit to the North by his defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, to secure North Korean artillery shells and antitank missiles. In return, North Korea is hoping to receive valuable foreign currency to continue funding its development of intercontinental ballistic missiles – its trump card in its quest to secure concessions, and recognition as a legitimate nuclear state, from the US.
Closer ties between Moscow and Pyongyang extend beyond bartering for bullets, however. Russia’s growing isolation has sent it in a new, worrying direction as it seeks to build a united front against a “hostile” west that includes China and now, it seems, North Korea and its million-strong army. As news emerged of Kim’s possible trip to Vladivostok, media reported that the North could take part in joint naval drills with Russia and China.
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